Hitting the new Hybrids
I visited the range this morning to practice. As usual, I started with the 7-iron, hitting half swings off the grass. Most shots were fading to the right. After some adjustments, I made most shots go straight or slight draw, with an occasional hook thrown in for variety. I then hit 6-iron 3/4 swings and moved on to the 5-iron and 27-degree hybrid. As with the 19-degree hybrid, I was hitting the hybrid about 5-10 yards farther than with the equivalent iron. I had some trouble this practice session with slicing long irons, but soon adjusted to straight or slight draws. I moved on to the 4-iron and the 23 degree hybrid, and again, hit the hybrid better and longer. I hit a few shots as well with the 19-degree hybrid.
I moved on to the driver and 3-wood. I was spraying the 3-wood all over the place, hooks, slices, just making a mess of things. As I hit better with the driver, I switched and found the same problem. As I’ve noticed in the past, when I don’t hit the driver straight, it is usually because I’m too far from the ball, and that was the case this time. As soon as I moved in a little, my shots started going straight again. I hit a few with the 3-wood standing closer, and the shots improved there as well.
My final drill is “pin hunting”. For this drill, I aim exactly at the pin with the right club for the distance. The red flag was about 90 yards away, so I started with the 50-degree pitching wedge, and was 5-10 yards short. The 10-iron was about 5-10 yds long. I tried a 3/4 swing 10 iron and nearly hit the pin.
The blue pin was about 140 yds away and I was short with a 6-iron. Next up was the 27-degree hybrid, but I hit the ball straight over the pin carrying it by 20 yds. Oops. My shots with both the 23- and 27-degree hybrids were going about 20-30 yds farther than during practice. I’m guessing that swinging the big stick took out the tension and allowed me to hit the ball longer. On the next practice session, after warming up, I’m going to work my way down from the driver and see how I hit the ball.
Only a few balls remaining, so I hit the 19-degree hybrid at the white flag 160 yds out. My alignment was bad, as the shots were landing pin high with no fade or draw 20 yds to the right. Usually my alignment is good, but not today.
I didn’t practice with the wedges or short irons today; those clubs need little maintenance.
After my mediocre putting yesterday, I practiced for about 25 minutes on the putting green. First, I did my usual drill where I place a ball at 6, 12, and 18 feet to get the speed of the green down. This time I chose a hole with a significant amount of break to the right. It took me three of these drills to get the speed correct. That drill paid off, as the next drill that I do is putting several balls from 21 ft and then 30 ft. Both of these drills, I hit 1/3 of the putts and didn’t three putt at all.